Not long before  (Feb. 16), a photo circulated the web that showed the microphones reserved backstage for the big performance. The mics were stored in their own individual boxes with labels indicating the artists that would supposedly be singing into them soon: Chance, Quavo, , Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. 

Quavo and DJ Khaled ended up coming out for “I’m The One”. Lil Wayne joined Chance for the Coloring Book cut, “No “, which still brings immense joy to this day. Even though was in the building, unfortunately, he didn’t hop onstage to contribute his verse. However, this wasn’t the omission that had Twitter complaining. After all, 2 Chainz was never rumored to perform. Kanye, on the other hand, was. 

The fact that Kanye was sitting front row between and made fans all the more furious that he didn’t emerge for “Ultralight Beam”. Ye and Chance being two of Chicago’s brightest stars would have also made a joint performance a nice gift for their hometown, where the game was hosted. Regardless, Chance gave viewers shivers by rapping his own standout verse from the TLOP track. Bieber was presumably slated to come out for “I’m The One”, but there were no signs of him even being in the building. I suppose both Ye and Biebs only committed to being game-time decisions. 

Check out the disappointed Twitter reactions regarding Kanye’s halftime show absence below.